August 1, 2017

Dear Parents and Guardians,

On behalf of the staff at Ella Lewis School, I am happy to welcome you to the 2017-2018 school year!  We are all looking forward to a wonderful year in our partnership with you to ensure that our children achieve their highest potential.  We recognize that in order to be successful in school our young people need help from caring adults at both home and school and we are thankful to you for all you do to support and encourage them from the home front. It makes a tremendous difference. As your partners we share in the promise for our children’s success and want you to know that we will do our very best to carry out our responsibilities.

There are many, many things for our young people to look forward to at ELS this coming year! As will all new beginnings, our upcoming year is full of promise and a sense of optimism for the future and we are so very excited to get started! With personalized learning always at the forefront, our students will continue to have opportunities to learn through a variety of academic, co-and extracurricular programs.

As your principal, I feel privileged and honored to be a member of this school family. Every day I find joy in my work here at the school with your children.  I can say with my whole heart there is no place on Earth I would rather be than working here at ELS with such fine teachers, parents, grandparents, and young people. I am so, so lucky!

With that said, I am easily humbled by the awesome responsibility that comes with being a school principal.  I realize that many of the hopes and dreams of this community lie in balance with the work of preparing our young people to face their futures with vigor, compassion, and ultimately, success! I take this responsibility very, very seriously.  Though I know we will face challenges and complexities as the days and months unfold, I am also confident that we will be able to work through anything that arises for our children.

I truly believe it is an exciting time to be working in public education and I look forward to working with our students and families, staff, community members and our board and district administration to provide the very best for what I believe is our community’s most precious asset, our young people!

Sincerely,

Joanne C. Harriman